The present invention relates to a video camera in which an automatic aperture used for continuously photographing scenes of changing conditions performs as an aperture and shutter for still picture photographing operations so that still pictures can be taken with various exposure times.
An example of a conventional video camera is shown in FIG. 1. A lens body L is provided with an automatic aperture 10 and an automatic aperture drive circuit 20, and a camera body B is provided with an automatic aperture control circuit 30 and a recording control/drive circuit 40. The automatic aperture 10 is used as an aperture and shutter during still picture photographing operations.
For continuous photographing, the video camera takes a picture every 1/60 sec or 1/30 sec. The pictures thus taken can be seen as a motion image when displayed continuously.
This conventional video camera cannot take still pictures with various exposure times. However, in the conventional video camera, the shutter speed is fixed, 1/60 sec or 1/30 sec, and the video camera cannot take still pictures with shutter speeds other than those. This difficulty may be overcome by providing a video camera by combining the above-described conventional video camera and a still camera. However, this approach suffers from drawbacks in that the camera thus formed is large in size and weight, and its operation is complex.
In view of the foregoing, an object of the present invention is to provide a video camera which can take still pictures with a variety of exposure times, which is substantially equal in size and weight to a conventional video camera, and wihich can be operated easily. Yet another object of the invention is to make the number of signal lines extending between the lens body and camera body of such a video camera as small as possible.